In May the Xbox 360 marked its 29th month atop U.S. sales charts, moving 114,000 units. That's down from 160,000 units in May 2012, but then again the console market as a whole ticked downward. Microsoft's numbers come courtesy of third party sales tracking firm NPD Group Inc. Overall game revenue was down 25 percent for the month.

Prices for the redesigned 'box remain unchanged at $199.99 for the 4GB version, $299.99 for a 250GB version, and $299.99 for a 4GB version with a bundled Kinect sensor. Microsoft has announced that it hopes to sell another 25 million Xbox 360s, offering the system as a cheaper alternative to next generation consoles. That would bring lifetime sales to 100 million units globally.

Regardless, Microsoft appears intent on comparing its console against a known -- the Xbox 360. And it's there that the confusion begins.

The Xbox One

In an interview with Stevivor on May 22 Microsoft Xbox Australia spokesperson Adam Pollington remarked, "It’s also been stated that the Xbox One is ten times more powerful than the Xbox 360, so we’re effectively 40 times greater than the Xbox 360 in terms of processing capabilities [using the cloud]." (emphasis added)

Microsoft Game Studio chief Phil Spencer on Monday's episode of "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" bragged that the Xbox 360 was 3x more powerful:

Later, at roughly 4 a.m. EST he took to Twitter to correct himself at least twice as he first said 8x, then 10x (without the cloud):

@JuanCabrera It was a mistake, 8x is the right number. I just messed up the line.

Even if that number is correct there's still some big questions about Microsoft's numbers. Mr. Pollington's comments seem to suggest that the Xbox One will quadruple its onboard processing power via the cloud. That's a rather ambitious claim -- and one which will need to be seen to be believed.

If it can indeed up its console's performance by 300 percent with cloud computing, then perhaps it has some ammo against critics of its always-on DRM scheme. If not, the critics will score yet another strike against the embattled gaming box.